Introduction

In March 2019, age 27, I decided to permanently move to Milan. I have been living in Rome, actually in a small town near Rome, for more than 20 years. Just after I got the university degree, I didn’t want to stay in Italy at all, but eventually I changed my mind.

Living in the same town for a long time makes you think that the whole country is almost the same or similar to the town you have been living in. I discovered I was totally wrong after I began to travel.

I’ve been traveling for months in several cities in Italy and Europe to find out how the world looks like and which cities and countries I liked the most. After all of that I visited Milan, so I was able to make a good comparison, not only with Rome and my small town, but with several other notable European cities like London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Turin, Florence and more.

Jobs and salaries

The job market in Milan is pretty different compared to the rest of Italy. More companies, more opportunities, and the top salaries you can find in Italy (even if salaries in Italy are everywhere very low and stuck since the 90s). This reason is usually enough for many people to move here, expecially because there are not many job offers in other cities. If you work in design, fashion, software, finance, marketing or sales, Milan is where most of the serious Italian opportunities are.

Size and transportation system

When I lived in Rome, the city always felt way too big and too spread out. Getting from one side to the other take forever, the roads are broken and dangerous and the traffic is crazy. In big cities like Rome people tend to stick to their own neighbourhood, expecially due to transportation issues that heavily discourage you to move anywhere. So you rarely go to the other side of the city just to hang out. In Milan it is quite different because the city is small enough (~5x smaller than Rome) that almost everyone ends up in the same spots near the city center. This makes the social scene much more connected and active, people actually enjoy hanging out because they know they can move around the city without hassle and without a car.

The public transport is comparable to any European city. There are five metro lines, a solid tram network, buses, and a suburban railway system that connects the city to the whole province. Everything is integrated and generally runs on time. You genuinely do not need a car here. Try doing that in Rome.

Bikes and parks

Milan is investing heavily in cycling infrastructure so there are some bike lanes. The city is not as connected as Amsterdam of course, but it’s still something. I use the bicycle daily here and enjoy every ride. The public parks are also surprisingly good: Parco Sempione, right next to the Castello Sforzesco, but also Parco Lambro, located far from the city center, is extremely underrated and well maintained.

It’s Italy but more international

Moving to Milan does not mean giving up the things that make Italy great. The food is still excellent: pizza, pasta, risotto, gelato, etc. You can find any restaurant you like, and if you get bored of italian cuisine you can literally find any cuisine in the world.

Something you notice pretty quickly in Milan is how many non-Italian people live here. In Rome many foreigners are mostly tourists, but in Milan many of them are actual residents. This is not common in Italy where most cities feel quite homogeneous and everyone seems Italian and speak only Italian. Milan feels more like a European capital, people usually speak English too and this makes the city more open, more dynamic, and honestly more interesting to live in day to day.

Because of its size and international profile, Milan gets almost every major event: concerts, theatre, art exhibitions, fashion shows, trade fairs. The fashion week, the design week, l’artigiano in fiera and many many other events, they all happen here.

Surroundings and travel

The geography is one of the underrated advantages. Milan has not just one but three airports: Linate for short European hops, Malpensa (MXP) about 45 minutes away for long-haul and international flights, and Bergamo Orio al Serio (BGY) about an hour away, which is the main hub for low-cost carriers across Europe. Between the three of them you can go anywhere in the world without many layovers.

Remaining in Italy, Lake Como is about 50 minutes by train, Lake Garda is roughly an hour by car. Both are genuinely stunning and completely doable as a day trip or a weekend getaway. The beautiful Dolomites mountains (UNESCO World Heritage) are about 3h by car. For skiing, the mountains near Lecco are closer than most people think, you can be on the slopes in under an hour without even going deep into the Alps.

Conclusions

Milan gave me many friends, better career opportunities, a more international environment, a city that actually works, and most importantly a more open-minded version of myself. It is not a perfect city, rent is very expensive and winters can be grey and foggy, but on balance it is the best place I have lived so far. If you are Italian and considering the move, I really recommend you to try it.